First Baptist Church of Temple

Birdsdale stood on Bird's Creek, northwest of the future Temple. Its post office, named for the ranger John Bird, opened in January 1873 with Louis C. Allen as postmaster, and at its peak the town had a school, a church and several stores. When the Santa Fe began building Temple in 1880 and 1881, residents were drawn away, and the post office closed in May 1881. The church the plaque describes was among those that followed, moving to Temple and taking a new name.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of Temple Originally known as Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, this congregation was organized on November 21, 1874, in the small Bell County town of Birdsdale (about one mile west of present Temple). The Rev. Anderson Clark (1829-1925) became the church's first pastor, leading a charter membership of twenty people. A small sanctuary was built on land donated by A.J. Flakes, but was destroyed by a tornado two years after its construction. Following the creation of the city of Temple in 1881, the members of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church voted to move to the new town and rename their congregation First Baptist Church of Temple. A frame church was built on the corner of North Main Street and Barton Avenue in 1882. It was replaced with a brick and stone structure in 1895. After the 1895 building was destroyed in a 1938 fire, the congregation relocated to this site and built a new sanctuary that same year. Additional buildings have been added over the years to serve the growing needs of the congregation. Instrumental in local missionary activities, this church has served the community for over 100 years. (1988)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum — 5.0 mi
  The Santa Fe depot of 1911 in a railroad town that began in 1880 as a construction camp, now a museum with locomotives and cars parked beside the active rail yard.
• Mother Neff State Park — 15 mi
  A Leon River park that grew from six acres Isabella Neff left the state in her 1921 will, where Civilian Conservation Corps Company 817 built a stone tower, a pavilion and roads in the 1930s.
• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 33 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.

More markers nearby

• Tennessee Valley — 2.6 mi
• Site of 1920's Factory of the Temple Monoplane — 2.9 mi
• First Presbyterian Church — 3.4 mi
• Bird Creek Indian Battle — 4.0 mi